The Future of Social Networking - Where is There?

Before I get too far off on a tangent, let me begin by laying the groundwork for my random thoughts which will soon follow regarding all things future and social.

Finally making time, I'm walking out of the Verizon store today after testing the Blackberry Storm. Amongst other items, one of my frustrations centered around the keyboard. In consideration, a fairly decent size when flipped horizontally but definitely still too small for my fat fingers. Because of the new touch screen technology, it's easier, even though the keys are larger, to accidentally stroke a key that wasn't meant to be stroked. Due to my aggravation, I called my business partner who has been testing / comparing both the Blackberry Storm and the Apple iPhone. He had similar frustrations, but found the Storm to be easier to type on. Through our conversation, I simply asked, how can they fix this? Nobody wants a bigger device, so there's only a certain amount of Real Estate to play with. With this, I began to ponder a bigger notion.

Patience, I'm getting there.

Staying on the same theme but moving to a different platform, let's look at Twitter. On many levels, it's similar to the Blackberry Storm and the Apple iPhone. It's the latest and greatest. It's a glimpse into the future. It's content is compact, 140 characters or less for Twitter a few inches by a few inches for the smart phones. They both integrate pics, video, music, and other media. In short, both tools provide many important things to many people.

Okay, now for the notion I was left to ponder.

Our present push into the future is quite obvious. More interaction, more contacts, more content, better content, improved delivery system, all of which are packaged up tightly for a quick evaluation before we flee on to the next new, exciting thing. In essence, as we already know, we have our mobile network with us everywhere we go whenever we want it. If you have a question, turn on your phone and "dial or Tweet a few million friends".

We know we're going somewhere with this social networking stuff. Through trial and error, we have a loose pathway guiding us there. This tool works, that tool doesn't, this tool would be great if ..., while that tool would be ... Before you know it, a new and improved product pops to the forefront. We try the tool. Enough people like it. The players in the field Tweet it. Boom, a buzz, social acceptance, the next child is born running before it ever had a chance to crawl.

Voila, future becomes present day reality.

I don't have all the answers, but I do know that those much smarter than I will most certainly develop newer and improved solutions. Until then, I'm left to wonder where all of this is headed? How much smaller can we make all of this stuff before it becomes functionally useless? What's in store next?

We're heading somewhere. But, where is there and what does there look like?